The brain is unique in appearance with indentations and depressions. Just 3 pounds in weight, the adult brain is 60 percent fat; the rest’s water, protein, carbohydrates, and salts. We know about the brain’s gray and white matter but much less about the folds. So what is the brain’s surface called a sulcus?

Sulcus is the patterned grooves or furrows on the brain’s cerebral cortex that increase the brain’s size and separate the lobes and irregular-shaped ridges of the gyri. Sulci are the folds between the brain’s lobes and the cell-carrying tissue that connects to the rest of the body.

Whether we’re marveling at a sunset, reading a book, resolving a mathematical equation, or fine-tuning a drawing, we’re wired to the brain’s working. The sulcus is a mysterious anatomical receptor, not just the fissures separating the brain’s lobes and the gyri. The role of sulci in the processing and interpreting of messages on the brain’s surface is worth looking at.

All About SulcusConclusion

All About Sulcus

Conclusion

The brain’s surface, the cerebral cortex, is uneven and has characteristic folds and bumps: the sulci (singular sulcus) and the gyri (singular: gyrus). Both landmarks allow us to separate the brain into functional centers – a left and a right. The sulci form the boundaries inside and in between the brain’s two hemispheres.

The sulci are the folds that stand out as grooves or furrows between the brain’s different lobes and the irregular ridges or gyri on the brain’s surface. The folds are essential as these increase the brain’s size, and allow for a greater gray area and more neurons. The sulci are visible on the brain’s cortex, which fascinates one when looking at a plastic brain model.

How we learn, remember, and reason depends on the thingray matterlayer of neurons on the brain’s surface. This is the cerebral cortex region consisting of different lobes, the sulci folds, and the gyri.

Sulcus And Brain Lobes

Sulci (singular sulcus) in the brain’s cerebral cortex connect to the central nervous system. The sulci are part of the brain’s outer lobes. The folds like crevices stand out between adjacent gyri on the brain’s surface.

The brain’s cerebrum has four lobes with different lobesfunctions:

The neuro-physical and psychological aspects of the frontal lobe are how it defines our personality – this is what influences us how to decide, do things and move. Our sense of smell is here. It’s also the region for our ability to speak (the Broca’s area).

The parietal lobe sits in the middle of the brain, and an essential function is identifying objects. Our level of understanding of what others say resides in this region, also known as the Wernicke area. This part of the brain affects our spatial relations, and it’s also from here that we experience physical pain.

The occipital lobe governs our sight and all aspects of vision.

If you wondered how we remember, this happens in the temporal lobes. Our short-term memory and speech start here. Another function of the temporal lobes is signaling to us who we are.

In the lobes of the brain, the sulcus and the gyrus are closely connected, and thesedifferfrom each other. More than one sulcus covers the depressions or furrows between the gyri. The sulci and gyri function together to increase the brain’s cerebral cortex and increase the richness of information that can be processed. The sulci also are in the grooves between the lobes.

Difference Between Sulci And Gyrus

As the command center, the brain controls our senses, emotions, and movements. And yet, we only use only 10 percent of our brains. There’s so much more to discover, like the role and functions of the sulci. One can’t, however, speak of the sulci and not the gyri best known through their physical appearance on the brain’s surface.

The sulci and gyri havedifferences:

The sulcus or sulci (plural), as the furrows or fissures aredifferentiatedfrom the gyrus or gyri, the raised coils, and twists. The sulcus appears in various regions, of which the three most prominent are:

The sulcus has functions like:

There are alsotwo typesof sulci, which differ in terms of the different times these were formed. These are:

What stands out in neurobiological research is the depth of the sulci folds, which form the boundaries between lobes and over the gyri.

Thesulci folds' depth(and, in this case, the shallowness) is used as a diagnostic tool in some cases relating to the incidence rate of epileptic seizures. These are also indicators of schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations associated with structural deficits that are directly related to the shallowness of the sulci. A smooth cerebral cortex is a medical aberration.

Nothing about the brain is simple. From aneuro-psychological perspective, the role of sulci stretches from social cognition and cognitive empathy to the ability to take a perspective. This includes behaviors like being altruistic and prosocial and the above clinical diagnoses where the sulci are linked toabnormal brainfunctions.

Though there’s variation in the cortex between individuals, some consistent patterns exist in the sulci folds, which is also why subtle abnormalities become visible. The folds indicate cognitive disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, ADHD, and autism.

Some research has looked at the age-related deviances in sulci depths and even the prevalence of hallucinations.

Sulcus And Early Childhood Abnormalities

Interestingly, the human brain grows rapidly from birth to childhood, and at six years old, the brain is 95% of its final volume. The cortical folding starts in the gestational stage of the brain and at around 16 weeks. Neuroscientists can scan the depth of sulci and use these to diagnose functional and developmental pathologies.

Neuroscientists have seen that in autism, the brain’s morphology changes. The changes are visible in the sulci in the central, intraparietal and frontal lobes. In these instances, it’s the length and depth of the sulcus that stands out. Scientists have also seen how healthy cortical folding in early childhood is a baseline for normal cortical maturation.

Not much research has been done, and it’s primarilyearly. Cortical sulcal development is poorly understood. Besides the cerebrum being the brain’s largest part, the frontal cerebral cortex has gray matter, and the brain’s white matter is at the center. The cerebrum influences our movement, speech, judgment, and thinking.

Furthermore, the cerebrum’s sulci folds and gyrus ridges are spread across thetwo halvesof the cerebral cortex. The sulci stretch between the lobes from the front to the back of the head.Neuroscientistshave seen that the right controls the body’s left side and have found the left brain hemisphere controls the right side.

The appearance of the sulci has been studied to seek out abnormalities. The anatomical functions of the sulci remain a world to be discovered. Especially in as much as the sulci contribute to who we are.

Sulcus And The Aging Brain

Neuroscientists maintain that as weage, our brains atrophy. This neuronal death shows up as wider and shallower sulci.

The changes in the brain have been looked at in middle-aged persons. What happens with age is that the sulcus changes as the adjacent gyri shrink, which affects the brain’s global shape. And the research specifically looked at how adjacent gyri’s atrophy influenced the sulci’s width or depth.

The areas that were looked at were: the frontal sulcus, central sulcus, lateral sulcus, temporal sulcus, and intra-parietal sulcus. And what researchers found was that age brought about:

On another level, sulci changes also impact people’semotionalwell-being. The region in the brain that brings about the changes is the limbic node. This is also where the lateral sulcus is – an area associated with the conscious experience of emotion and knowing contexts.

Our emotions, moods, and even our proneness to addiction come from the limbic region. This is also the area that’s associated with ourprimitive Lizard brain. The lizard brain refers to limbic responses – flight, fight, and more.

Sulcus And Hallucinations

Researchers use electromagnetic imaging to look at the brain’s imagination center. The center in our brain’s frontal lobe shows that the brain cortex around the paracingulate sulcus activates when we imagine what others think or feel. So too, patients with brain damage to their frontal lobe cannot plan, and their sense of self is impaired.

Research has shown that the paracingulate sulcus in the brain’s imagination region influences how we perceive reality. Some people have virtually no paracingulate sulcus. Researchers found that the lengths of the folds or sulci can indicate reactions like hallucinations.

The shorter sulci are associated with hallucinations like hearing voices and seeing things. These experiences are hallucinatory rather than visual or aural perceptions.Researcherscould tell that some patients with schizophrenia might experience hallucinations while others might not.

The hallucinatory neural processes are part of the brain’s anatomy. The research that looks at the depth of the sulcus folds in the cortical brain areas is a start for treating hallucination sufferers.

Possibly the least known fact is that the folds on the brain’s cortex expand the neural field of the central nervous system because of their shape. It’s one of the marvels of the brain to have the depressions of the sulci count for more area for gray matter. And so too the raized gyri increases the active neuron count on the brain’s surface.

In addition, scans as diagnostic tools have been able to diagnose and even treat patients because of information on the depth of the sulci, comparing the furrow’s to what’s closest to the norm.

Related posts:Central SulcusLateral SulcusCerebral Cortex (Location, Function, Images)Motor Cortex FunctionWhere is the Primary Visual Cortex Located?

Reference this article:Practical Psychology. (2022, September).Sulcus.Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/sulcus/.Practical Psychology. (2022, September). Sulcus. Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/sulcus/.Copy

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Practical Psychology. (2022, September).Sulcus.Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/sulcus/.Practical Psychology. (2022, September). Sulcus. Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/sulcus/.Copy

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